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Central London Humanists is delighted to welcome Professor Massimo Pigliucci for the next instalment of our Global Roots of Humanism series.

The Global Roots of Humanism series explores philosophical traditions from around the world that have shaped, prefigured, or run parallel to modern humanist thought.
This time we turn to one of the most influential ethical traditions of the ancient Mediterranean world: Stoicism.
Founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens around 300 BCE and later shaped by Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius, Stoicism placed reason, virtue, and our shared humanity at the centre of the good life. It taught that we should look to ourselves and to our fellow human beings for ethical guidance, not to divine revelation. Its idea of cosmopolitanism, that we are all citizens of a single global community, remains one of the most enduring contributions of ancient thought.

Professor Pigliucci will guide us through three questions that sit at the heart of any humanist reading of Stoicism:

  • Were the Stoics proto-humanists, or something else entirely?
  • How did Stoic ideas shape later humanist thinkers, from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment and beyond?
  • What do modern humanists owe to Stoicism, and what can a secular reading of it offer us today?

Along the way we will look at what was lost, absorbed, or displaced when Stoicism gave way to Neoplatonism and Christianity in late antiquity, and why Stoic ideas have re-emerged so powerfully in our own century.
The session will run for approximately 45 minutes, followed by a live audience Q&A.

Professor Massimo Pigliucci is the K. D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. Trained originally as an evolutionary biologist, he has spent the last two decades writing and teaching on practical philosophy, virtue ethics, and the public understanding of science.
He is the author of more than a dozen books, including:

  • How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life (2017), which brought Stoic thought to a global general audience
  • Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk, a leading defence of scientific reasoning against pseudoscience
  • A Field Guide to a Happy Life, a practical modern reworking of Stoic ethics
  • The Quest for Character: What the Story of Alexander and Aristotle Offers Us Today, on virtue and leadership
  • Beyond Stoicism (2024), which broadens the lens to include the Sceptics, Epicureans, and other Hellenistic schools
  • His latest book is How to be a (Happy) Skeptic

He writes the Figs in Winter substack newsletter and the Art of Living column for Philosophy Now magazine.

Event details
Date: Wednesday 28 October 2026
Time: 19:00 to 20:30 UK time
Location: Online via Zoom (link sent to registered attendees)

This event is open to all. Whether you’re a long-time humanist or just curious to explore indigenous ethical traditions, you’re warmly invited.

Please RSVP to receive your Zoom link.

How to Join:
Register here on Meetup or Eventbrite. We do not charge to attend our online talks – but we ask for a £5.00 donation from those who are able, to help cover the group's costs (we do not have a membership fee like other groups).

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Central London Humanists is a volunteer-run community group. We aim to provide a safe space for the humanist community in London to come together for fellowship, learning and fun. We receive no financial support and are entirely funded by donations from our membership and event attendees.

Our events are 18+ unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. We encourage dialogue, debate, and sharing of information, but ask people to keep their comments cordial. Any individual's views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the group at large.
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Related topics

Humanism
Philosophy & Ethics
Stoicism

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